Breech Of Daycare Contract

[Arnon]

Hello, I'm a mother with 3 children in one family home daycare facility (ages 9, 6, and 1).
When I first began my journey with this provider I was smitten by her and her family.
Everything at first was great, until my older children started disclosing info about the baby and how he was being treated.
My children were together all day for a month during off track of school.
The kids informed me that the baby would go upstairs into a room by himself and have to cry himself to sleep and was often left upstairs for a long time with the provider not checking on him regularly.
My husband discussed the matter with the provider and she made a few changes with his care.
Most of the time he was placed in a bouncer or the 9 year old had to watch him.
Well after a while I grew to be unhappy with his treatment and rather than leaving on bad terms decided to terminate my care with her facility.
Ofcourse not fully reading the contract when I first signed I failed to notice she required a 2 week notice per child.
So I would have to endure 6 more weeks of her care.
She was a nice enough person and I didn't actually think she would physically harm my kids so I left them there for another 4 weeks, then she decided she was going to take vacation for a week in which case I had to pay for according to the contract.
I had no problem with this seeing how I would be out of contract in 2 weeks.
My husband went the following day that she was supposed to be closed to pay her for the week and to his amazement she had children there in her care.
My husband was dumbfounded and decided that she was in breech of her contract by closing her daycare to only my children and not others.
So my husband left then and did not pay her for the week of her vacation and the following week we still had with her.
He felt that we were being taken advantaged of since we were leaving her anyways .
Now she has since reported us to a collection agency and they are trying to collect.
We want to fight this, but don't know if we actually have a case or not.
Need some help?????

[Newlyn]

I see your viewpoint, but I still say it is most like telling the cable company you will be on vacation for 3 weeks, so expect to see your bill reduced by 3/4.Look at it this way: you ask the provider to give you a service.
The provider says yes but - these are the conditions of my service, and if you don't like them you are free to seek this service elsewhere.Of course you can do so, but what happens when all the service providers have the same terms of service? You end up agreeing.
You can certainly say all parents need to join together and refuse, but that means many will need to quit their jobs.
You can tell the cable company you refuse to pay their fees, but that only means you will go without cable, not that you will go without your salaryCertainly they can build in such absences to their fee schedule, but that really means paying more per month: if I need to clear $2400 per month, and know that 25% of the time half of the children will be absent without paying, then I will adjust my fees for everyone to ensure I clear my goal even if no children are absent.Daycare is incredibly expensive in my area where you can expect to pay $500-$600 per month for an infant, and I certainly sympathize with those who need daycare.
But I've seen the other side of the coin, and I also sympathize with the providers.

[Ercole]

Fxston, I agree with you ...The reason we hire 'contractors' to perform tasks such as daycare (and in my case, doggie-care) is that we do not have to pay them benefits and withhold taxes if we hired them as 'employees.'I imagine that if a day care closes down for a week or two, all of their clients have to find and pay for substitute care.
Why should someone have to pay twice for this service because the day care decides to shut down for vacation? I would suggest that tmom1 follow up with a complaint to the State Dept. of Consumer affairs and the AG.
It just goes completely against the purpose hiring 'contractors' rather than an 'employee' that a client would have to pay for vacation time.

[Healy]

First off, I think either that provision in the contract that required two weeks per child may have either been mis-read or perhaps could be interpreted as being a flat two-week advance notice vs. multiplying two weeks times three kids.
(I should think the "per kid" notice requirement anticipated that it may involve your no longer needing daycare for the kids one by one and not wanting you to think that you didn't need to provide two weeks' notice with each pull-out.) You'd have to take it to a local attorney for interpretation.
Anyway, you can write a letter to the collection agency advising that the matter is disputed and that you will only deal with the original creditor in this matter and direct it to cease all contact with you.
I would advise in the letter that if they bother you again (outside of sending a letter or calling to acknowledge that they received your letter), you will have a legal basis on which to sue them for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Document it if they pester you after you send the letter and have given it a few days to reach them.
I would send it certified or overnight mail, showing on the bottom of the letter that a copy also went via regular mail.
There's no "case" to fight just yet.
She hasn't sued you.As an aside, I don't get why folks agree to pay for a daycare provider's vacation time.
They are a service provider, not an employee (and employers can decide whether or not to pay for vacation in any event.) Parents need to start changing the tide on this.
It's fine if the daycare provider wants to charge a little extra per child to account for wanting a certain level of income every year and a certain number of days-weeks without being in service, but to blatantly tell the parents that they have to pay for vacation time...? (The problem with that is that I bet your contract doesn't actually go into gory detail as to when she can charge for that "vacation pay" and under what circumstances.) :)

[dolaidh64]

but the other side of the coin is that if a daycare shuts down for vacation (and expects to be paid while closed) those parents have to find another provider for daycare--paying double for the service.
Day care is very costly: where I live it's about $200 per week: that's totally absurd.Comparing daycare to cable service is like comparing apples to oranges.
It makes no sense. I still say this person needs to contact the State Dept. of Consumer Affairs.

[Adan]

Ah, but wait until your family income is only $24,000 annually.
You will think that $6000 per child for daycare each year is prohibitive.Most providers watch a full-time child somewhere between 10 and 16 hours per day, depending on how far the parent is commuting to work.In my area, many parents commute to the bay area for work and some even farther, leaving the home as early as 4:30 am and returning as late as 7:30 pm.
Some of those who commute long distances use providers in the bay areas, but their child care costs increase dramatically.When I lived and worked in the bay area (San Francisco bay area), I worked with a woman who did not take home enough to cover the cost of her child care (3 children).
Frankly, I would have stayed home.

[ricard83]

Cable comparison bad.
:)"Certainly they can build in such absences to their fee schedule, but that really means paying more per month: "Not any more than you already are; one more time, it's the approach that's wrong.Not sure what you mean about 25% of the time half the children will be absent without paying.
What has this to do with the vacation pay thing? Aren't these absences-losses already a built-in consideration even if the parents don't pay for these absences? (But is that true? Do providers allow parents not to pay if the kid is out sick, for instance, or do they not just generally pay by the week regardless?) I don't consider $5/hour to be incredibly expensive over the course of a month -- and that assumes the provider only watches the kid 30 hours a week.
If it's 40 hours a week, it's even more economical.
Not sure what folks expect to pay, though I suppose it depends on the facility-provider.
Cost should go down if there's a volume business.
:)Parents are free to be more creative, e.g., pooling together and hiring a professional nanny and having him-her operate out of one of the homes (whether he-she lives there full-time or not) and splitting the cost among 2-3 families.

[Morse]

I've to agree with the two months notice. Possibly, the OP might have eliminated the kids instantly so long as she/he taken care of the two months, that will be the purpose of needing notice.However, parents will discover it difficult to change the wave with this one, simply because they will discover exceptionally several if any companies who'll not cost for holiday period. The parents are taken care of their holiday, are they not? Then your supplier also needs to become compensated. Similar to the customer, the supplier is relying on the revenue for that month. Ditto for ill leave.Actually, my buddy is just a certified supplier, so when she went for necessary instruction from the region the region recommended them to cost for parents' holiday and ill times, in addition to their very own holiday period. Additionally they informed them they have to supply alternative treatment once they aren't accessible and spend that alternative out-of their very own costs, but obviously, that's not necessary by law.If among the customers' daycare costs are now being compensated from the region, the county gives for that customeris holiday time and ill leave.After all, no body continues holiday and informs their chef to not spend them due to their holiday period. No body continues holiday and informs the wire organization to not cost them for that next 14 days bacause they'll be on holiday and will not be watching Television. No body informs their landlord to not cost them lease for that next 14 days since they're losing sight of city on holiday. I came across it difficult when my children were small enough to require daycare to locate anybody who'd not cost me for my holiday and ill time. I envision it is however the same.Telling a possible provider you will not spend when you are on holiday merely indicates you'll have to maintain buying supplier. No provider is needed to take any customer, but operating parents do require the supplier's solutions. For that guardian, it is only a reality of life.The toughest one I came across not just had 3 months holiday included in her routine but additionally had an overall total of 33 additional times - her birthday, her kid's birthday, her puppy's birthday (I kid you not) that she not just wouldn't offer care even although you were nevertheless likely to spend her, she also anticipated one to discover and purchase your personal alternative treatment. She also managed to get clear that the child(ren) weren't to the touch her child's gadgets, despite the fact that these were spread all around the ground. And she'd kids she was viewing, so there have been parents who approved her terms.Needless to express, I continued looking.

[Botwolf]

The underside line stage is the fact that this type of person *not employees*; they're business people offering something. Can you think it is fascinating when the plumber began suggesting that you simply need to purchase his holiday?? (You *do*, one of the ways or another, do not get me wrong, but...)It Is The strategy that is wrong. Again, companies must develop in feasible down-time towards the general regular price... After which simply tell individuals when is likely to be sealed for business. Additionally, if youare likely to approach it in the viewpoint that youare a worker vs. in operation, why am I not spending work-associated fees? Why am I not ready to determine if so when you consider your holiday period, the same as (additional) companies may? Observe the reason? And when it's related to unscheduled final (sick-day), they ought to organize substitute treatment when they be prepared to be taken care of that day.

[chason58]

the people with the kids decide to go on vacation? Does that mean they have to pay for the service while THEY are on vacation also?